Monday, March 23, 2015

Race at the Raffle 2015

On Saturday night I attended CANAPI's signature fundraiser, Race at the Raffle, at the Tangier Event Center. I had never been to a "night at the races" style event - but what a fun time it turned out to be. Or "Losing money for a good cause," as I put it on Twitter. This event combined a reverse raffle, smaller regular raffles with the horse races and bidding on horses. There was always something going on. Even though it was exciting that my reverse raffle number made it quite far I really enjoyed betting on the video taped horse races the most - but I learned I should probably stay away from the real tracks.

The MC was absolutely amazing - to keep tabs on everything going on and to keep the excitement up over a multiple hours was impressive.
Many of the horse names were "interesting" to say the least. I think I failed to mention that there were also silent and oral auctions mixed among all the other action.
Nicole, Phil, Getta, Erin and Kyle
Phil Montgomery - I said to him later in the night that I just couldn't pick the right horse - "As board president that makes me happy!" was the response.

Russ Pry, Jon Groza, and Judge Larson in celebration.
Getta named her horse "Fitzwater Photography"(great name!) and it was the only bet I made all night that won! I have to admit it was nice hearing the name called out over and over, "Fitzwater Photography coming down the backstretch!"
"Cheering Them On"
Matt McCallum placing his bets.
"Excitement"
James Hardy rooting for his horse.
"Cheers"
"Bets IV"
"Heartbreak"
Anyways - CANAPI is a nonprofit organization dedicated to HIV support services and LGBTQ advocacy in Summit and Portage counties - so we didn't have to feel guilty about bidding and betting...